Unsubstantiated Speculation: Wednesday's Draft Rumors

Today’s
links are a little light. Not only are there not that many but after the Spurs
took another step towards a Finals sweep I anticipate an epic flood of draft
links from NBA writers desperate for a story once the Finals are over, so there
are plenty to come. If you ever wanted a 1,200 word feature on Kyle Visser, your
time has come.

And… links…

·There seems to be
quite a buzz surrounding Yi Jianlian and it’s not necessarily because he has
done anything good. In the sparse video footage of him, he’s basically dunking
on high schoolers, his only workouts are individual and yet some teams are
enamored with him.
This well-done San Francisco Chronicle piece by Janny Hu doesn’t answer too
many questions about his game, but it does provide a look at who the hell this
kid is and the state of basketball in China. One thing is for sure though, if Yi
gets drafted in the top five and struggles like Darko Milicic and Nikoloz
Tskitishvilli, it might be the last time a foreign prospect can pull the whole
“mystery” thing with the draft. On second thought, some of these NBA GMs would
draft a 7-foot Romanian monk who averaged 12 points in a monastery league if he
had a long wingspan and was mobile.

·Speaking of
overhyped international players, Chad Ford checks in with
his Eurocamp wrap-up (Insiders only). Seems like the better players at the
camp won’t be in the draft until 2008. Also, these international players must
have learned something from the stateside draftees in Orlando because most of
the best prospects didn’t show. Tiago Splitter of Brazil, Kyrylo Fessenko of the
Ukraine and Petteri Koponen of Finland, probably the three top international
prospects besides Yi, all declined to play. Marco Belinelli of Italy and Ali
Traore of France are the only two participants with a first-round shot this
year. Oh and one day, Kansas State’s Bill Walker showed up with Team Reebok,
which included some high-profile high schoolers, to
challenge some of the Europeans (UCLA-committed guard Malcolm Lee was
apparently the best player in the whole camp). Seems like some sort of
international basketball version of Bring It On, but I’m sure it was
entertaining nonetheless. Walker is apparently very fat right now, sorry K-State
fans.
NBADraft.net and
DraftExpress have daily recaps available if you’re into that sort of thing.

·Joakim Noah
continues his attempts to take over this draft. After attacking bloggers, mock
drafts, Yi Jianlian and, albeit nonverbally, hairstylists everywhere, he’s now
saying he’s going through workouts at 75 percent because of a shoulder injury.
He said it also affected him during the season. Andy Katz
has the story. Apparently this time Noah is speaking the truth because NBA
teams have seen an MRI that shows a slight tear in his rotator cuff. Either way
it’s pretty clear Noah
doesn’t feel to secure about his draft position right now. So the strategy
has become to use his two most valuable assets, his motor and his mouth, to
boost his stock. What has resulted is an arrogance and obnoxiousness that most
people are supposed to hate, but in a strange way has made Noah likable in this
process. He is complaining about all the things that fans have complained about
for years. Mock drafts are stupid, players that refuse to work out
against other top prospects are cowards (he made an indirect jab at
Brandan Wright as well), and injuries aren’t an excuse to not go all out
for every team. Even though his words and actions may be a veiled attempt to
restore his draft hype, Noah’s certainly accomplishing something important in
the NBA Draft: getting noticed.

·The Bulls held a
pretty giant workout Monday that included the Sigfried and Roy of the 2007 NBA
Draft,
Corey Brewer and Al Thornton. It’s the third straight workout they have done
together. Joakim Noah loudly approves. Josh McRoberts and Jason Smith were also
there. Smith is becoming one of those overhyped underrated guys in the draft.
Both the
Chicago Daily Herald and the
Chicago Tribune did the whole “this mid-major kid is so unheralded!” story.
The hype is real for Smith, he has supposedly been dominating workouts and
recorded a 37-inch vertical leap, the best among big men. He hasn’t hired an
agent but he’s probably a lock for the top 20, maybe even the lottery. In other
Bulls news, after all that, Carol Slezak of the Chicago Sun-Times doesn’t think
the
No. 9 pick is going to help the Bulls at all.

·Other workout
news:

·The Sixers have
been terrifying me with all of the local scrubs they are working out. Their
latest workout included Will Sheridan
who had been interning on Wall Street when he got the workout request. Maybe
Sixers GM Billy King wanted to know if Sheridan’s firm was hiring.
Jared Dudley, Nick Fazekas and DeVon Hardin were also there.

·The Bucks are
tight-lipped about their workouts but Brandan Wright will allegedly have an
individual workout with them Friday. Mike Conley and Thaddeus Young should be
there next week and Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Carl Landry are rumored to work
out for the Bucks June 19th.

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About Jason Tomassini

ColumnistFreshman 10, Commentary

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Background

Jason Tomassini recently graduated from the University of Delaware where he was the managing sports editor at Delaware’s student-run newspaper The Review. He is also a freelance sports journalist with frequent contributions to the Wilmington News Journal in Wilmington, Del. His favorite team is Syracuse and his most hated teams are Duke, Pittsburgh and whoever Dick Vitale decides to yell about. While he has a degree in English/Journalism and a minor is business administration, he does not recommend getting either for yourself.